OATES’S FIRST AND LAST
Keeper with Record Stumpings
“The fact of the retirement of Tom Oates from his regular place in the side cannot be allowed to pass without mention of his great service to Notts cricket. For 29 years he has kept wicket in his quiet, safe, effective way and his record for catching and stumping puts him in the very front of wicket-keepers”.
Thus the usually dry-as-dust Committee report for 1925 paid tribute to Thomas William Oates, who played the last of his 420 First-Class matches on this day (9 June) 100 years ago. He retired just a few weeks before his fiftieth birthday, having been born on 9 August 1875 in Eastwood.
In the wicket keeping stats for Nottinghamshire, Tom Oates has one record that will surely never be surpassed and probably not even challenged – a career total of 223 stumpings!
When you consider that Chris Read, the only Notts keeper with more career victims than Oates (983 to 967) had just 44 such dismissals, then Oates’s achievement really stands out. Even allowing for the fact that there were more slow bowlers around in his day, almost a quarter of his dismissals were stumped.
Oates is one of a clutch of Notts keepers on six victims in an innings (Wayne Noon holds the county record at seven) and was the first – in 1906 – to claim ten dismissals in a match. In that game, against Middlesex at Trent Bridge, only one, Philip Harrison, was stumped (off Iremonger), the other nine were caught.
Born in Eastwood on 9 August 1875, Thomas William Oates began his cricket career with Eastwood Collieries CC. In April 1896 he was chosen for the XXII Colts v Nottinghamshire and later appeared for J A Dixon's Colts XI v Nottingham Castle and for Nottinghamshire Colts v Yorkshire Colts in early May 1896.
His first appearance for any Notts side was for the Seconds v Surrey Seconds at The Oval in 1891 when he took just one wicket, perhaps inevitably a stumping, that of Herbert Thompson, one of the batters dismissed by Robert Bagguley, who finished with the extraordinary figures of 8-4-5-8 (five ball overs)!
In face of competition from Arthur Pike and John Carlin, Oates did not secure his place in the Nottinghamshire XI until 1902. Tom Oates generally batted at Number 8 or 9 for Nottinghamshire and could be relied on for a few quick runs – in most seasons he registered at least one half-century (top score of 88).
Between 1899 and 1926, Oates was engaged on the Lord's staff and from 1927 to 1938 was a member of the First-Class umpires list; he stood in five Test matches between 1928 and 1930. In 1939 and part of 1940 he was the Nottinghamshire scorer, resigning through ill-health.
His last recorded match as umpire was in 1945 when the Australian Services XI played Notts at Trent Bridge in August. Bill Voce showed his prowess was undimmed with eleven wickets in the match but the Aussies – with Test stars Keith Miller and Lindsay Hassett in their ranks – still prevailed, by 103 runs.
Altogether, Tom Oates umpired nine of the wartime matches played by Notts between 1942 and 1945, meaning he extended his connections with his home team, and home ground, for a further twenty years after his playing days ended.
A miner by occupation, Tom Oates always resided in Eastwood, where he died on 18 June 1949.
Notts have been graced by some fine keepers over the years but few can match the longevity or the statistics of Tom Oates – and his stumping record is unassailable.
Tom Oates's career stats can be seen here
June 2025